INDIANOLA, Miss.–A murder Tuesday night just outside the city limits of Indianola, may have been with a modified pistol, said Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood. Christopher Ivory, 18, was shot while the car in which he was a passenger was hit by bullets at 9:47 p.m.
“They pulled up at a stop sign. I guess somebody might’ve been following them. A vehicle came up beside them and started firing. I believe it was more than one weapon involved, firing into the car,” said Haywood in an interview with Delta Radio.
He said deputies are trying to determine if it may have been in retaliation related to other incidents.
Haywood said the people in the car that was hit drove back into the Indianola city limits on the west side of town, where someone called 911. Indianola Police discovered Ivory dead in the passenger seat.
“What we’re doing is encouraging people with anything, because of the time of day this happened, this happened probably a thousand ft. west of Walmart, hopefully people were traveling in that area and somebody saw something,” he said.
Haywood said he believes it was likely that the shooter or shooters used a pistol with a “switch”, which can be bought off the internet or made with a 3-D printer. That turns a semi-automatic weapon into what is essentially a fully automatic gun, which can be fired rapidly and empty a magazine within two to three seconds.
“This young man, he was hit numerous times by a weapon that was probably rigged to fire rapidly. Based on the amount of damage and the length of time, that’s all it could’ve been.”
Haywood said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the case, and made a plea for parents to get involved to stop any further violence.
He said if you know anything about the murder you can call (662) 887-2121, or Crimestoppers at (662) 887-9181.
